Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries are set to debate concern about China’s use of “economic coercion” in its dealings overseas as a part of their bigger joint assertion subsequent week, in accordance with a US official aware of the discussions.

The assertion, a possible element of the general communique that shall be launched by leaders through the May 19-21 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, is predicted to be paired with a broader written proposal on how the seven superior economies will work collectively to counter “economic coercion” from any nation.

The fundamental G7 assertion is about to incorporate “a section specific to China” with a listing of issues that embrace “economic coercion and other behavior that we have seen specifically from the [People’s Republic of China],” the official mentioned on Friday.

A separate “economic security statement will speak more to tools” used to counter coercive efforts from any nations accountable, together with planning and coordination, the particular person mentioned. In every case, the statements are to anticipated go additional than prior statements by the G7.

US President Joe Biden has made China a spotlight of his overseas coverage, working to maintain the tense and aggressive relationship from veering into one among open battle, together with over self-ruled Taiwan.

The G7, which additionally consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, is intently tied economically to China, the world’s greatest exporter and a key marketplace for most of the seven nations’ corporations.

Last month, China known as a press release by the G7 overseas ministers that touched on related matters “full of arrogance, prejudice against China,” and lodged complaints with this yr’s G7 host, Japan.

Under Biden’s predecessor, President Donald Trump, G7 statements usually provided solely a cursory point out of points involving China. The Biden administration has pushed for extra direct statements.

The joint assertion issued by all of the G7 leaders yearly is meant to sign that the highly effective nations are aligned on a variety of political and financial points.

G7 members may even maintain out the prospect of additional cooperation with China on areas like local weather.

“We’re not for decoupling the US and Chinese economy, we are for de-risking, we are for diversifying,” mentioned the US official. “That principle is very unifying.”

Negotiations over the exact language of the leaders’ joint declarations are nonetheless topic to diplomacy and adjustment earlier than they’re launched throughout summit.

China exams G7 alliance

The G7 assembly shall be a take a look at of how a lot the members, all wealthy democracies, can agree on a standard strategy to China, the world’s second largest financial system.

The China phrases have been a serious topic of the talks at the moment underway by G7 finance leaders in Niigata, Japan, the place they’ve centered on decreasing “over-reliance” of their nations’ provide chains on Chinese manufacturing, together with by partnering with low- and middle-income nations.

“The US wants to get something hard on paper down in terms of agreement and the other countries are interested, but they’re not as interested in putting specifics down on paper on these various instruments and economic statecraft tools,” mentioned Josh Lipsky, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center.

In specific, some G7 members are skeptical about signing on to controls on outbound funding in China.

The insurance policies are being drafted partly to assist deny China’s army entry to instruments it might use to realize technological superiority, and plenty of within the Biden administration see them as complementary to export controls limiting entry to some semiconductors which have the identical objective.

“Of course, each member of the G7 is to some extent going to carve their own path on China and yet there are also a set of kind of principles that unite the G7 in a common approach to China,” mentioned the US official.

Traveling for the G7 finance assembly in Japan, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen mentioned on Thursday that China had clearly used financial coercion with Australia and Lithuania.

Hanging over the assembly was an absence of progress in resolving the US debt ceiling stalemate. A scheduled assembly on Friday between Biden and high lawmakers was postponed till early subsequent week as Biden’s Democrats and Republicans search a compromise to keep away from a catastrophic default.

US officers, nonetheless, anticipate the president to attend the two-day summit as deliberate, adopted by journeys to Papua New Guinea and Australia additionally aimed toward shoring up Washington’s strategy to the China-dominated Asia-Pacific area.